This year is the Rockets' best record at this point in the season in 17 years... 4th best ever

You are right, very good point. Some people compare the 8th seed thinking if you get beat by the 8th you will end up 9th which is wrong.

 

LOL...reminds me of a little joke/riddle I learned in 2nd grade that I used to love tricking people with:

"If you're running a race and you pass up the guy that's in 3rd place, what place are you in?"

 

Exactly. I was enjoying the ride that Houston was having particularly last year (our "rebuilding years" when we were supposed to bomb out) until the LOHs showed up.

 

Man if we can get our bench rolling again, the 2nd half of the season is going to be a treat. Here is hoping that Asik digs his head out of his rear end by then.

 

History is history. We can be much better and need to be much better.

 

How this record translates into our standings?

 

Some of you simply can't enjoy watching a good team, can you? It's not about standings right now. It's about the team gelling, and overcoming injuries while still maintaining the ability to win games. The standings will take care of themselves if they continue to play solid basketball. The West is the West....there is nothing you can do about that. But at least give accolades, and appreciate a good thing when we have it. It's been FAR too long since we've had a team that has the present AND the future shining brightly in front of us.

 

LOF & bandwagoner

 

So when is he getting fired then

 

Hakeem was there for all these instances

 

I am only concerned with the loss column. We lose 2-3 games in a row in a few stretches, we could be out.

 

Very unlikely. Injured players will be back and chemistry should be better. Schedule is easier also, IIRC.

 

Indeed. But man, 5th in the west, there is nothing 4th in the history about that, which is compounded by the fact that we couldn't beat the very best in the league (and the Spurs always bring IT in the playoff). Just saying ...

We have been in this spot many times before in the last decade or so. We need to be Excellent. Not there yet.

 

What are you talking about? We've beaten Portland and SA twice.

 

And lost to the Kings twice, blown out by ...

We are team still in search of an identity. Far from getting IT done in the playoff.

 

We win a lot of games on talent alone, most actually. I would love to see what we do with a real coach.

 

Assuming health and no collapses, 56-26 is realistic goal. I don't see the Rockets catching San Antonio or OKC, but they have a shot to catch the Blazers.

Obviously a trade for rotational depth (Dunleavy or Patterson calibur) may add a win or two, but it is going to be hard to get up over 56 wins with this inconsistent a team and already having 15 losses.

 

I think its a good chance the standings go like this

OKC
SAS
Hou
Por
Clip
GSW
Dal
Phx

Hou vs OKC in the WCF.

 

I'd have to disagree...I'm sorry but McHale isn't a bad coach. Look at the records of the other "good" coaches in the NBA. We're only 4.5 games out of first in the WC. I'm sorry, you don't do that on talent alone. And isn't a team supposed to have talent?

 

I'm expecting a much better second half of the season. Offense is there. All we need to do is gel a bit more and get some solid D and we're good to go...